Thursday, February 28, 2013

Welcome to the February edition of the community update. A lot happened this month. I’d say this is without a doubt the busiest month so far since October of last year – actually it’s probably the biggest month so far for ASMR. The longest Monday of the year – January – is over and now the year really gets going.

To start off the month, the most important and biggest thing that happened was the news that ASMR would finally be put under the microscope – or MRI at least – as an attendee of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA, said he was conducting tests on non-ASMR subjects and would like to begin recruiting subjects who experience ASMR. This is what we’ve been hoping for for the last 3 years at least, and so I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw the topic on Reddit! Anyone who wants to volunteer should read this post first and then contact Bryson at bryson(dot)c(dot)lochte(at)dartmouth(dot)edu. Make sure to put “ASMR” somewhere in the subject field.

EJ Dickson is also writing an article on ASMR, and would like anyone who experiences ASMR and insomnia (preferably those who intentionally trigger ASMR in order to induce sleep) to help out with research. Feel free to contact her at edickson (at)salon(dot)com if you meet the above criteria.

A published fiction and non-fiction writer, known only as PageTurner on the ASMR Research & Support forum is planning on pitching the idea of an ASMR article to some newspapers and journals, and is looking to do a little research, so if anyone would like to lend a hand, make sure to visit the forum and let her know.

Another topic that cropped up on the forum was that of a new ASMR Documentary called Braingasm. This doccie, currently in the development stage, is being made by Lindsay Ragone, a Canadian filmmaker, and she needs participants. Anyone is eligible and can contribute in one of three ways: by donating trigger videos; appearing on camera for an interview; or participating in a phone interview over Skype. Anyone looking to apply can visit http://braingasm-film.com for more details. You can also follow the project on Twitter.

Something which might also be of interest is that ASMR received a mention on The Young Turks, which is a well-known channel over on YouTube.

Another video on YouTube that was uploaded by JustAWhisperingGuy, shows how he participated in a phone interview with a journalist looking to write a story on ASMR. This might prove useful – as in picking up a few pointers – if you intend to help out with the Braingasm documentary I spoke about earlier!

IlseTheWaterdrops, aka TheWaterwhispers Ilse, posted a video on YouTube where she talks about an interview that she participated in for a Danish TV show called Deadline, so you can perhaps expect a clip of that to be around somewhere on the internet at some point. TheOneLilium, also known as Lilium Candidum, also appeared on Danish TV recently.

Roosterteeth mentioned ASMR in one of their live shows just lately and now have the podcast up on their website, episode 207. In the link dump for this episode, they referenced the article that appeared over at vice.com last year, written by Harry Cheadle.

There’s a new ASMR app for iPhone, iPod, and iPad, called RelaxTube. The creator of this app, Matthew Modonk of Edentech Solutions, claims that the app lists the most popular videos on YouTube that aim to relax individuals, with ASMR being a category featured here along with yoga, meditation, and hypnosis, among others. The app is currently at version 2.0.6 and weighs about 6.3 MB. The lite version is free, and there is a pro version that boasts some extra features which costs just 99 cents.

ASMR Sounds, another app for iOS, recently released a free version of their app. The paid version of the app originally retailed for $5.99, but has since been dropped to $2.99. At version 1.02, updated this month as well, it weighs in at over 70 MB. These were two gripes that people cited about the app – the price and the weight of the thing. So ASMR Sounds Free addresses these concerns, as it is – as the name implies – free, and version 1.0 only weighs 15 MB. There will obviously be some differences in the overall product, such as features that are absent and only available in the paid version. Their support page is over here if you need more details or have any questions or suggestions.

Also, I would just like to put in a special mention here for GabrielAngelo ASMR. He was involved in a rather nasty traffic collision this month, and was admitted to hospital in serious but stable condition. GabrielAngelo ASMR started ASMR Index, an ambitious project that operates alongside ASMR Island – the aim of which is to archive every single ASMRtist on the internet, with the focus being on YouTube.

Here’s to hoping you make a full recovery, GabrielAngelo ASMR! I’m sure those who know about the whole affair will spare a thought for you and your loved ones.

So as you can see, February was a packed month! Make sure to make it back here in a month’s time for the next community update!

No comments:

Post a Comment

If you’ve found this post helpful or humorous, why not bookmark it right now? You can do this by using the ‘share it’ buttons, as well as the new blogger share buttons at the bottom of the post. Please feel free to share this article with others, but do not plagiarise. All posts on this blog including this one, are copyrighted.

You may also leave a comment as well.

Bookmarking and commenting only takes a little time, and you can also consider subscribing to my RSS feed for more!

I apologise if you are having trouble leaving a comment. Sometimes the comment system doesn't accept comments. I'm looking in to this right now, and hopefully can find a fix soon. There are several potentional reasons why this may be happening to some people, and one of them points in the direction of a recent Blogger update.

This is the main reason why I am unable to respond to comments left on the blog for the time being, but rest assured that I do read and approve comments that make it through. If you really need to get a hold of me, then visit my contact page in the sidebar to the right. Thanks.

Site Updates

These are just mini-updates that I was too lazy or busy to make a post for. They also list changes or additions that have been made to the blog, for interest's sake and to follow how the blog is developing.